Tag: The Hunger Games

SUPER SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t read the book and/or haven’t seen the movie, stop reading now. Happy Hunger Games!

So as my previous vlogs and blogs have noted, I rushed through finishing the Steve Jobs bio so I could finally get started on Suzanne Collins’ book. I started it at midnight, but was so tired that I fell asleep by 3:00 am. When I got a hold of it the next night, I was awake enough to finish it. Finished at 4:42 am. Slept for about 4 hours. Woke up and saw the movie.

Now, I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about how great both experiences were (books and film) and my thoughts and stuff, but I’ll lay it out to you in bite-sized chunks… 🙂

Once again, if you didn’t read the book, there will be many spoilers below. I warned you.

A Supplement to those who read the first book:

I went into this knowing there was a lot of hype around it. Background: loved Harry Potter and will forever. Never touching them vampires. I had a feeling I was going to like it, so my expectations were moderately high.

When I started reading the first night, I immediately enjoyed it but stopped only because I fell asleep from exhaustion of the day.

This was surprising, because even with good books, I’m usually aware of the page number I’m on and my pacing. This book seemed to flow quickly, and I paid little to no attention to this aspect. It was as good as people hyped it up to be! *gasp*

Ever since reading The Giver in 8th grade, novels that feature dystopian societies have always been my favorites.
Global warming will turn the US to Panem. Canada simply gets demoted to “Wilds.” Well now.

That may seem a little messed up, but they are interesting. I’m always thinking about the future, and new trends, technologies, and fears are always thought provoking.

Today we have reality shows on about every TV channel and violent video games and movies in excess, could our future be approaching a Hunger Games reality…? Scary thought.

Katniss can shoot an arrow though the eye of her prey. She’s such a boss.

Peeta. Have you ever heard that name before? It sounds like Peter without the -er. LOL.

“The boy with the bread.” Whenever Katniss said that I always laughed in my head. I dunno why.

So what exactly did Thresh do? It’s such a mystery in the book. And he gained weight according to Katniss! Hmmmm…

Haha, Foxface. Her strategies were good, in my opinion. Could have used better berry-knowledge, though.

Collins should write a spin-off that tells the tale of how Haymitch won the 50th Hunger Games. That would be interesting.

And the finale! Whew! The adrenaline of reading them pages! And these genetically-altered creatures with human eyes?? Creepy yo.

“We’ve looked over the rulebook, and there can only be one victor…” OHHHH HELLL NOO!

If I were in the Hunger Games, I would have died immediately… probably by being stupid and stepping off of the tube before the countdown ended and being blown to bits. Hahaha. 😀

Katniss: “Oh Petta! I wuv youu! Mwah mwah mwah!” Peeta: “Oh Katniss! What would I do without youu… I actually luv youu. Like, legit.” Katniss: “WHOA. BACK UP. I’m just doing this for the sponsors and stuff. I have my Gale at home even though we’re not dating and I’m just gonna be confusing like that.” Peeta: “Well, at least I have mah bread. Imma talk to mah dad, and youu gonna starve.” Katniss: “Well, your life be in mah handz nao, and yo leg look redikoolus!” … I could go on with this for hours! Hahaha! 😀

The movie adaption:

Acting was superb. Couldn’t have asked for a better cast or better acting.

What lovely Tributes… now you have to kill each other. And Gale, why you here? Stop trolling. You’re still alive, so go away.

The movie actually followed the book’s plot details very well… with a few minor changes that were allowed by us bookreaders. Glad to see the gold eyeliner on the movie-version of Cinna. They got a lot of stuff right.

This was because Collins was a screenwriter for the film. All book adaptions should do this; look at the result!

But I wanted to see Prim’s goat. There was no goat! Pffffft! 😉

Okay, so they changed the whole mockingjay pin thing. In the book, the mayor’s daughter gives it to Katniss. In the movie, Katniss sees it in the Hob and a traders tells her to keep it, and then she gives it to Prim, and then Prim gives it back to her. It worked. No complaints.

They nailed it with Effie Trinket. But she got pretty much no screentime after the Games! 😦

“PRIMROSE EVERDEEN!” That still echoes in my head.

According to Twitter, some people didn’t like the actor choice/performance of Haymitch. He looked and acted exactly how I thought of him.

Cinna. He’s the awesome stylist. He has golden eyeliner. Who doesn’t like him??

Cinna should have gotten more screen time, too.

The four notes they chose for the mockingjays were a good choice.

Didn’t the book say that watching the start of the Games was required by law? So why is Gale sittin’ in some random hill??

As messed up as the population of the Capitol is, I found them very interesting and maybe more shots of life as a painted clown person would have been entertaining. (Make-up awards maybe?)

Changed the roof scene in the book to a peer-out-the-window scene. It worked too.

As I was watching the movie, I knew most of what would happen since I read the entire book hours before, but I was literally shaking and nervous during key points of the film.

A lot of people and critics are complaining about the whole “shaky camera” approach in the movie. I think it adds to it. It also covers up some of the gore and all of the blood that, honestly, I didn’t want to see to much of.

Caesar. Liked him in the book. Loved him in the movie. He’s so funny! Especially when he does that thing when he reclines in the chair with his mouth open and goes “ahhh haha!”

Caesar Flickerman: The only person who lives in the Capitol that’s likeable. And he rocks that blue hair!

Since the movie isn’t a narrative told by Katniss in first-person, we got to see a little “behind the scenes” of the Capitol. The TV editors. The people who set the wild fire and project the Panem seal in the sky. Yay future technology.

And this “pointy-beard dude” as my friend Derrel calls him. He wasn’t in the book, right? Interesting character nonetheless. Death by berries too. Sucks for him.

When I read the book, I got very sad when Rue died. When it happened in the movie, that was it. I cried. There, I said it. Now I’ve gotten teary-eyed with movies before, but she was so young and it was SO SAD. I blame the lack of sleep and *insert lame excuses here* …

The “creatures” in the finale looked more cat-like than wolf-like as the book portrayed them to be. No human-like eyes shown either. Hmmm…

President Snow: this actor always plays the bad guy because he’s good at it. And here’s another thing, the ending went a little into the second book (spoiler: rebellion) and I didn’t even start it yet. Oh well…

That seems like all of the thoughts I can think of for now. If you have ANYTHING to share, leave me a comment!

And may the odds be ever in your favor! <– I will be overusing this quote for the remainder of the semester.